


Magnetized

by livxxmarie



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, Boys Kissing, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livxxmarie/pseuds/livxxmarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The summer air had finally begun to fade and was slowly being replaced by a cool autumn breeze. Some days were still frustratingly hot, the air sticky with humidity and the only relief found when night had fallen and the world went cold.<br/>Today was not one of those days."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magnetized

**Author's Note:**

> This work is for the Six Weeks of Summer: Rhink Summer Ficathon 2k16 using the following prompt:  
> "Does that tickle?"  
> Make sure to check out the AO3 collection where you can find other works done by authors using the same prompts! Shoutout to all of those who have created this beautiful idea and plan, as well as to the mods that take care of and run both the tumblr and the AO3 collection! What a beautiful idea for such a long break away from Good Mythical Morning!

_September 17 th, 1995_

The summer air had finally begun to fade and was slowly being replaced by a cool autumn breeze. Some days were still frustratingly hot, the air sticky with humidity and the only relief found when night had fallen and the world went cold.

Today was not one of those days. It had been unseasonably frigid all day, frozen grass shining Link’s shoes that morning on his way to church. It was later now, the sky just breaking dusk, and the seventeen year old regretted not cherishing those sweaty summer-like days of just a week prior.

Link sighed heavily in the passenger seat of Rhett’s car, rubbing his hands together as the heater fought to keep the two boys warm on their spur-of-the-moment road trip. Road trip was used loosely, as they were only traveling to the backroads of Eastover, but Rhett insisted on calling it a road trip because the route that they would be taking took them so out of the way that it added on an extra twenty minutes to the usual half hour drive.

It had been a rough week and a half for the shorter of the two. Senior year of high school seemed to have appeared out of thin air and Link faltered under the pressure less than two weeks in. He was constantly bombarded with questions about the future and what he was to do with his life when he was done being a reckless teenager and was forced to enter the world of adulthood. Everything that he used to fall back on, everything that he and Rhett had planned for had been destroyed by the refusal of Rhett’s father for the blonde to attend film school. It left an empty slot in Link’s timeline and that was something that he agonized over nearly every night. Although they hadn’t discussed it in depth, the brunette knew in his gut that he would end up going to whatever college Rhett went to. The concept of leaving his best friend was out of the question and Link had no intentions of heading to film school on his own, breaking the oath that the two had made so long ago. Even though the agreement had at the moment been so arbitrary, it meant a great deal to the smaller of the two and he suspected the same for his tall best friend. They would do something amazing together. That’s always what they had said.

Link sighed as he thought of this and attempted to shove the negativity away. It was hard to keep an optimistic outlook when everyone around him had begun to question his motives. It wasn’t realistic to think that the two would stay best friends for the rest of their lives. Everyone had told the boy that, and even he himself knew of the improbability. It seemed like the question of why he was so determined to stay beside Rhett had come up in many conversations and Link wasn’t sure if even _he_ knew the reasoning behind it. He felt foolish and naïve for following Rhett around like he was lost without him. The brunette knew it wasn’t an unbelievable concept that he wouldn’t know who he was without his best friend in his life, and that frustrated him even more. Should he give up on the oath just to find himself, abandoning Rhett and their friendship? Even if he should, would he ever have the strength? Link knew the answer to the last question was no, but he wasn’t sure about the first. The dependency the younger man felt towards the blonde was indescribable and made him feel pathetic when he evaluated himself.

Link shoved these thoughts out of his head, tucking them away for a later date when the answers were much more urgently required. Instead of dwelling on his jumbled thoughts, he flipped his attention to the discomfort in his freezing hands and turned to look at the man to his left, glaring as he was met with giddy eyes and a wide smile.

“Oh, c’mon Link. Don’t pout. I think it’s startin’ to heat up a little bit,” Rhett tossed out, still smiling. He threw his hand onto Link’s shoulder and squeezed it slightly. The heat in Rhett’s car was most definitely broken, but the taller of the two refused to believe that anything was wrong with the machine.

“We’ve been driving for nearly forty minutes now, man. If it was gonna heat up it would’ve started a lot earlier.”

Rhett didn’t respond to this, too preoccupied by the hill that they were approaching. He turned to Link with a look that the younger of the two had seen a million times; a look that was most often followed by some reckless thing that left him both anxious and thrilled. Instead of focusing on the sting of loss he felt as his best friend’s hand left his shoulder to return to the steering wheel, Link allowed himself to be encompassed entirely by the adrenaline that was building in his stomach and sent Rhett an exhilarated smile in preparation.

The car lurched forward as Rhett slammed the pedal to the floor with his foot, both boys letting out a premature victory holler that was interrupted by the sputtering of an engine just as they reached the crest of the hill. The blonde’s expression flipped for a moment and Link’s own anxiety rose at the improbable thought that the car would explode beneath them in the middle of nowhere, but Rhett had already pulled over and parked the car, turning it off and sighing.

“She’ll be fine,” the tall boy said, smoothing a hand through his hair. He had let it grow out over the summer and his curls now hung shaggily over his forehead. “She just needs to cool off for a while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Probably a half hour.” Rhett took in Link’s panicked facial expression and quickly added to his statement. “Don’t worry. There’s a quilt in the backseat. We can sit there for a while and warm up while the car cools down.”

Link nodded in relief and threw his door open, sliding easily into the back of the car next to his best friend, much closer than they had been before. Rhett unfolded the blanket and pressed himself to the brunette, both boys stiff as they realized the close proximity that they were in with hesitation. Reasoning with himself that it could be a matter of _life or death_ and ignoring the rational part of his mind that berated him for his dramatic thinking, Link pressed himself as close as he could get to the blonde and shivered involuntarily.

“I hate this freakin’ weather.” Rhett’s voice was quieter now, neither of them needing to speak loudly at this point, the world around them almost completely silent.

“I think you said that last week when it was ninety degrees, brother,” Link shot back, laughing as he jabbed Rhett’s side with his finger.

The tall man squawked beside him and immediately blushed after the noise escaped his mouth. Link smirked devilishly and jabbed his side again, raising his eyebrows as the same noise graced his ears. Rhett’s face was red and he scooted away from Link.

“Knock it off, man.”

Link’s face had a plastered grin and he shook his head, cornering Rhett in the backseat and waggling his finger teasingly.

“Why, Rhett?” Link noticed Rhett sizing him up to pull the dead move and he knew he had to act fast. He used both of his hands to dance his fingers lightly against the blonde’s ribs, eliciting squeaks and protests from the tall man. “Does that tickle?”

After only a minute of tickling, Link had completely forgotten about the temperature of his skin, both men now laughing and giddy. The laughter from Link’s end died down quickly as he felt electricity run through him, noticing how close their faces were and how magnetizing Rhett was. He blinked, suddenly self-conscious and _since when did Rhett’s lips start looking so pretty?_ The blonde was still coming down from his high, but as soon as his gray eyes met Link’s, the smile that seemed to be glued to the man’s face faded into an expression of pure awe.

The silence around them was loud as they attempted to figure out what to do with themselves. In the midst of his tickling Rhett, Link had moved so that their legs were intertwined and he was perched on top of his best friend. Now hyperaware of this, Link’s rational mind screamed at him to get off, but he felt glued to his seat. The eye contact between the two was still unbroken until the moment when Rhett licked his lips anxiously and Link followed the movement with his bright blue eyes, his mind simultaneously racing and completely frozen as he leaned forward slightly.

It wasn’t a movement of urgency, but of apprehension and one that asked for permission. He looked into Rhett’s eyes, his pupils now dilated quite a bit, and took a leap of faith, closing the distance between them as his lips delicately pressed into Rhett’s. When the brunette felt strong arms wrap around waist and pull him closer, he dragged his own fingers from Rhett’s sides to the man’s shoulders, gaining leverage. The blonde opened his mouth hesitantly and Link responded eagerly, their tongues dancing together in such unfamiliar and wonderful ways. He gasped sharply as Rhett’s teeth captured his bottom lip and sucked on it gently, hands weaving into dirty blonde hair and the car filled with only heaving breaths and sighs, the world around them quiet as if waiting its turn to speak.

In one instant, Link’s world fell into place. Every unanswered question, every continuous search for a reason behind his actions—everything was solved in a single moment. It wasn’t that Link didn’t know who he was without Rhett, it was that he could be completely authentic in himself when he was with him. The man was his own personal magnet, attracting him in every possible way. They were attached, compelled to each other. He would follow Rhett to the ends of the earth because that is what he had always done and there was no question in his mind now that Rhett would not do the same. They were created for each other and there was no more question of whether or not he was making the right choice by sticking by the man for the foreseeable future. Rhett was always the right choice.

Link pulled away, his blue eyes sparkling with understanding and warmth. Rhett looked anxious for a moment, but when the brunette lit into a dazzling smile and kissed him once more, the tall man flashed his own set of teeth.

For the first time in weeks, Link didn’t feel the need to ask questions. He and Rhett were simply what they had always been. Neither felt compelled to discuss what had happened, both of them accepting it for what it was and what it would inevitably turn into.

Feeling overwhelmed by the serious tone that his thoughts had taken and wanting to break the silence, Link smirked and tickled Rhett’s sides again briefly.

“I didn’t know you were ticklish.”

“I wish you would’ve found out sooner.”


End file.
